Pulping machine



y20, 1930- G. s. WlTHAM. JR 1,759,385

PULPING MACHINE Original Filed Jan. 24, 1928 //V l/ E N TOR Georg; J/an/rd Jr ATTORNEY Maw 20, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT orrica aroma srmoan wrrnau, an, or mmsoiw' FALLS, NEW YORK.

PULPING macnmn Applicationfiled January 24, 1928-, Serial No. 249,064. Renewed ,April 4, 1930.

My invention relates to pulping and dis integrating, and particularly to a modification of the machine for performing these processes described in my copending a p11- cation, Serial No. 239,965, filed Dec. 14, 1927 It relates. to amachine for breakin up and pulping hardmaterials such as ba ed pulp, old news or board stock kraft, 'sulphite and ground wood sheet or lap stock,- or the like, and thus preparing the material for further treatment. It relates particularly to improvementsand modifications in the apparatus described in the above mentioned application whereby the constructionand operation 15 are greatly simplified.

, T e present practice in breaking up hard stock pre aratory to subjecting it to further treatmen is to first cut the material into short shreds by feeding it against revolving 2o knives'in what 'is termed a shredder. The shredded stock is then mixed with water in a suitable chest, and the mixture delivered to the heaters as required. Thestocks whichare now being delivered to the mills are bone dry and hard, and shreddin in this way-not only requires a great deal 0 hand labor, and an excessive amount of power, but the action of the knives cuts rather than separates the fibers so that many of them are rendered too short for the purpose for which they are intended. Moreover, because of being shredded in a bone dry state, a great deal of dust is created, thus. increasing the fire hazard about the mill. v

Machines of the type described herein and in application Serial N 0. 239,965 perform the disintegratin and pulping operation in a somewhatdi erent way. y the useof my machines the individualfibers are preserved 40 substantially intact, and. the disintegration and hydration of amass of material, regardless of its bulk,'is carried on simultaneously. The objects of my invention, generally, are to rovide an apparatus for breakin up and pu ping hard materials with a minimum of power and labor. Another object is to provide an apparatus whereby the pulping of such materials may be conducted on a comparatively large scale, and whereby the op: .eration may be made a substantially continuous one. Another-object is to provide an apparatus whereby hard materials are disintegrated and simultaneously '.mixed withwater, whereby a continuous flow of prepared materialfrom the pulper may be maintained. A further object is to provide an apparatus whereby the particles of stock in the resulting pulped mixture may be limited to a definite maximum size, and in which the consistency of the mixture may be controlled to a considerable extent. And a still further object is to. provide an apparatus of this character which is extremely simplein construction and which may whatsoever.

In the device described in my application Serial No. 239,965, I propose to use a foraminous drum rotated in a tank of water. In the device herein described, I propose to eliminate the tank by using the drum itself as a container for the water, and to'discharge the pulped material through 'openingsin the end rather than the side of the tank.

With these objects in view, my invention includes the novel elements and the arrangebe built of any size and capacity ments and combinations of elements described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig.. 1 is a side elevation in partial section 'of my machine with portions thereof broken away to show the interior construction; F Fig. 2 is a half-section in the plane 2-2 of Fi 3' is a side elevation in partial section of a s ightly modified type of machine having portions thereof broken away to show the lnterior construction;

Fig. 4 is a half-section of Fig. 3 in the plane Fig. 5 is a view of the right hand end of the machine shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6'is a fragmentary view of a modified form of baflle.

Referring particularly to the drawin my invention comlprises a drum, 1, preferab y but not necessari 'y cylindrical in shape, and mounted to rotate with its axis substantially horizontal. This drum may of anydesired size, and preferably is rather large-- say ten or more feet in. iameter and thirty or more feet inlength-the dimensions of any specific drum depending u on the character of the material to be pul and the capacity desired: This drum,as'i lustrated, comprises tenor, and in other cases to provide pockets within which some of the material to be pulped will be carried upwardly as the drum rotates and dropped downwardly into the drum from points above the bottom. These baflles, if desired, ma be serrated as shown in Fig. 6 to facilitate t e disintegration of the material to be pulped.

Referrin particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the head or en 3, is provided with a comparatively large hollow shaft, 6, fitted in a suitable bearing 7 This shaft should be of sufficient diameter to permit the introduction therethrough into the ,drum proper of com aratively large masses of materials, such as ales of pulp or the like. This material may be introduced into the drum by .means of a conveyor, 8, dischar ing into the hollow shaft, 6. The bearin or the shaft may be of any type, although it will be found convenient to support the shaft upon rollers-,9, as shown in Fig. 5. These rollers are in turn supported in bearings, 10, and adjusting screws, 11, are

provided whereby the bearings may be properly aligned.

In the type shown in Fig. 1,the delivery end of the machine is provided with an axial shaft, 12, sup orted in a suitable bearing, 13, which should adapted to take any horizontal thrust arising from the introduction of the materials. v The shaft, 12, is connected to a worm type reduction gear v14, through the V flexible cou ling, 15, and t 'e reduction gear and 18, for example, may

is in turn riven by a suitable motor. Depending somewhat u on the. material to be pulped, and the dept of water to be main tained in the drum, the head, 4, is perforated as shown in Fig. 2'. If a depth of 12 inches of water is to be maintained in the cylinder, the outer circular row'of holes or perforations, 16, is located 12 inches from the interior of the drum, and other rows of provided, as shown.

At the delivery endof the machine is a trough, 19. The bottom of this trough may be provided with a screw conveyor, 20, driven from a suitable source of power, not shown,

' which will force the material fallin into the trough toward one end thereof Tan cause it perforations, 17

to flow downwardly into the discharge pipe, 21.

In the ty ,e of machine shown in Fig. 3, I have provuiied the discharge end with a hollow shaft, 22, of somewhat larger diameter than the shaft, 6, at the delivery end. This shaft may be supported on a roller bearing, 7 similar to the bearin", 7, at the charging end. In this type, the rollers, 9, maybe provided with flanges adapted to embrace the sides of hardened metal rings, 23, surrounding the shafts, 6 and 22, respectivel so that any horizontal thrust may be ta en care of in.

this way. The diameter of'the opening in shaft, 22, may be, for example, two feet less than the interior diameter of the drum so that'a twelve inch depth of water is mainshown in Fig. 3 may be rotated by any suitable means, and merely for the purpose of showingsome method of'drivingI have illus--.' trated a splrocket, 25, around the center of the" at it may be driven by a chainrlliias drum so t ning to a suitable source of power.

Some means of furnishing a continuous supply of water to the interior of the drum must be provided, and for this purpose, 'I have shown a pipe, 26, extending through the shaft, 6,-and openin within the drum. To

"regulate the flow o water, a valve, 27, is, point in the pipe placed at some convenient line.

In the, operation. of my device, thematerials to be pulped. are introduced into the drum through the hollow shaft,6. The supply of water is regulated by means of the valve, 27, and the materials are tumbled about in the drum as it vrotates. This procedure subjects the materials to abrasi'on or shock or to'both abrasion and shock depending upon the character of the projections or bafiies,'5. As thematerials are tumbled about in the drum they are brokenfup and disintegrated and the smaller particles thereof are carried out through the perforations in the discharge end of the drum. In the type shown in Fig. 1,

-able t'o tumble the materia s in the presence ofmas'ses of a less mutable material. Where this is the case, stones, such as hard heads, blocks of hard wood, or masses of metal covered with rubber, may be introduced into the cylinder. These masses are introduced into the-drum through the charging end and in many cases will facilitate-the disintegration of the material by the additional pounding and abrasion effects obtained bytheir presence.

The maximum size of the particles of pulped material may be controlled by varying the size of the screen openings inthe dischar e end ofthe drum, and the consistency o the mixture may be controlled to some extent by regulating the supply of water delivered to the drum. The device requires substantially no attention from an operator and no preliminary treatment of the raw material is necessary. Raw material in bales, bundles or other form is fed into the charging end and a continuous supply of pulped material isdelivered from the other end of the machine.

While I have described my invention in its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the illustrations are purely typical, that the words which I have used in describing my invention are words of description rather than of limitation, and that changes within the purview of the appended claims maybe made without departing from the true scope and spirit of my invention in its broader 'aspects. i

What I claim is 1. A pulping machine comprising a rotatively mounted, substantially horizontal drum having imperforate sides and provided, at one end, with a hollow shafto'f a diameter adapted to admit to said drum lar e masses, such as bales or laps', of material to e pulped, the opposite end of said drum'being perforated in a zone intermediate the periphery and axis but imperforate throughout a zone of substantial width adjacent the periphery; the maximum diameter of the perforate zone eirceedingthe interior diameter of said hollow s m t.

2. A I pulping machine comprising a ro tatively mounted, substantially horizontal cylinder having imperforate sides and provided with a hollow axial shaft at. either end, one of said shafts being of a diameter adapted to admit to said drum large masses, such as bales or laps, of material to be pulped, and the other shaft being of somewhat larger interior diameter, means for introducing water into said cylinder, and a screen intermediate the cylinder and larger shaft adapted to limit the size of the pulp particles discharged from the drum.

3. A pulping machine comprising a rotatively mounted, substantially horizontal cylinder having imperforate sides and provided, at one end, with a hollow axial shaft of'a diameter adapted to admit to said cylinder large masses, such as bales or laps, of material to be pulped, the opposite end of said cylinder being imperforate throughout a zone of substantial width adjacent the periphery but perforate intermediate said zone and the axis of said cylinder; and means for maintaining a continuous flow ot' water through said cylinder.

GEORGE STANFORD WITHAltl, JR. 

